Contents Los Angeles Festival Moves To Cal State Los Angeles Looking Forward to Phoenix 2004 Latino Book Awards Your Support Is Welcomed News About Our Producer You Can Help

Welcome to Issue 4 of Noticias del Festival. Everyone at Latino Literacy Now appreciates your continued support of our efforts to reduce illiteracy and promote literary excellence while advancing the cause of reading in the Latino Community. We hope you are enjoying these monthly newsletters. And remember, this is your newsletter, your input as to content, changes or additions is important to us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Los Angeles Festival Moves To Cal State Los Angeles

We are very excited to announce that the 8th Annual Los Angeles Book & Family Festival will be held on the beautiful campus of California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), on the weekend of September 11-12.

The Festival's thanks go out to Daria Yudacufski, Director of the Cross Cultural Center, John Ortiz, Frederick Smith and the entire staff at the University Student Union at CSULA for helping bring this partnership to life. Thanks to their understanding of the core mission of Latino Literacy Now we really feel that we have found a "home."

Activities such as the Folkloric Challenge USA, author readings and seminars will be scheduled for the four story Student Union building which is immediately adjacent to the Festival grounds. This year's Festival will feature a unique double Entry Plaza entrance along The Walk of the Arts in front of the Luckman Theatre, with attendees then continuing on to the Circle Walkway in front of the Student Union, the Book Store and Food Court.

California State University, Los Angeles, is easily accessible from the 10 freeway (campus map). Look for more information on our Los Angeles Festival web page and in future issues of Noticias.

Sponsor and Exhibitor Information

	Looking Forward To Phoenix
Even though the San Diego Festival takes place this month (May 15-16, Southwestern College) it is not too early to turn our attention to the rest of this year's tour and specifically the Phoenix Festival. For the past two years this Festival was held in the early Spring to take advantage of the fair weather in the "Valley of the Sun". This year our Phoenix co-hosts, Arvizu Advertising and Promotions (http://www.arvizu.com) lobbied for a later date to have some extra time to promote the Festival as a "back to school" event. With the extra participation of schools, students, teachers and parents we have been seeing at all our Festivals since the inauguration of the "Open A Book" program last Fall at the Los Angeles Festival, we agreed this would be a great change. So the 3rd Annual Phoenix Latino Book & Family Festival will be held on the weekend of August 28-29. For all those worried about the warm climate in Phoenix in late Summer, remember that the Phoenix Civic Plaza is completely air conditioned; the Festival hotel, the Hyatt Regency Phoenix, is directly across the street from the Civic Plaza, and all of downtown Phoenix is a short walk from both. And besides, when else are you going to get a $72.00 a night rate at a Hyatt Regency? But those rooms are limited so it's best to make your reservations early. Complete hotel information is available on our Phoenix Festival Page. If you've never visited downtown Phoenix you will be surprised by the abundance of excellent shops, cafes, restaurants, sports bars, museums, etc. It's clean and un-crowded and we generally have a great time before, during and after the Phoenix Festival. Check out the downtown Phoenix scene here. We hope to see you there. Sponsor and Exhibitor Information »

	The 2004 Latino Book Awards
The 6th Annual Latino Book Awards event honors Latino literary excellence in a variety of categories. As far as literary awards goes, the Awards are young and rapidly evolving, a reflection of Latino thought and writing in the US and the Americas. The Awards encompass six main categories and forty- five theme specific subcategories, as varied as the many expressions of Latino life itself. As powerful literature does, these books concern Latino's place in the everyday economic and political life in the Americas. Three of these nominees need no introduction, their accomplished career and prolific work precedes them: Isabel Allende - El Reino Del Dragon in the Best Young Adult Fiction category; and Mi Pais Inventado, in the Best Biography category. International laureate Paulo Coelho is a heavy favorite in the Best New Age Book category with Manual del Guerrero de la Luz and Once Minutos. Perennial world-class contenders Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa are a force to reckon with entries La Silla del Aguila, in the Best Fiction Drama category and El Paraiso en La Otra Esquina in the Best Historical Fiction Novel category, respectively. We are pleasantly surprised by the nomination of so many luminaries of the written word to the Latino Book Awards. The daunting task of selecting the winners in each category was undertaken by an equally illustrious group of learned judges. Dr. Manuel Murrieta, Dr. David Munoz and Dr. Rolando Castillo spearheaded the panel of judges, each one of them a learned scholar with a broad based knowledge of Latin American Literature. We are deeply in debt to the judges and Latino Literacy Now staff that brought forward this involved process to reach its successful conclusion. The winners in each category will be announced during the Book Expo America at a dinner honoring all nominees to be held at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago on the evening of June the 4th.

	Your Support is Welcomed
As many of you are aware the Latino Book & Family Festival is operated by Latino Literacy Now (LLN), a 501(c)(3) non profit organization. In order to help fund the literacy based programs operated by LLN, we have established a "Donations" page at http://lln.kintera.org/donations. Click here to be taken to that page. On this page you can direct your tax deductible donations to fund such programs as Open A Book, Change Your Future; Folklórico Challenge USA; The Latino Book Awards; and the Latino Book & Family Festival General Fund. Donating does not have to break your budget. Any donation, no matter the size, will assist our efforts. For example, if each of our subscribers donated just $25, we would be able to purchase all the books needed for the Open A Book program for all of 2004. Please join us in our work to reduce illiteracy, promote literary excellence and advance the cause of reading in the Latino Community. We appreciate your support in this endeavor as well as your spreading the word to your friends and business associates. Thank you for your support ... »

	News About Our Producer
Festival Producer Edward James Olmos has returned to Vancouver, British Columbia and is currently filming the Sci-Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica. Based on the December 2003 miniseries that became the most-watched cable miniseries of the year, Galactica returns to SCI FI Channel as a one-hour weekly drama in early 2005. Learn More ... »

	You Can Help
Bring the cover page of this newsletter with you to the next LBFF in your area & receive 25% off all Festival merchandise available at the Information Booth.

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